home care Archives - Caring Companions Of Atlanta

Jun 28 2022

Family Members’ Role In Home Care

When we meet with a family inquiring about Home Care, we always tell the prospective client’s family that if they do not see home care as a partnership with us (the Home Care Agency, our Management Team and our Caregivers) and your family, we may not be a good fit…and we also tell them they may not have the success with the care their loved one needs.

Often times they look puzzled…occasionally, we get a comment like “I thought you wanted to sell me home care”? We tell the family we want to be their partner in providing care to help their family. Our goal is to exceed their expectations, but that won’t happen if we aren’t all working together as partners with realistic expectations.

Home Care Services in Marietta GA: Increasing Alzheimer's Cost's — Home Care in Atlanta

Our management team’s job is to find great caregivers and to align them with families (chemistry is important!) where they can be successful. Ultimately, this takes teamwork with our management team and the family.

One of a caregiver’s job responsibilities is to make lemonade out of lemons. Figure out how to best support the family while working into an unfamiliar environment, navigating family politics and learning preferences. Often times, the family has been in crisis. That means the space in which they reside might be in chaos; unpaid bills, dirty dishes, laundry, etc. There can be pets and often the person needing help is in resistance (understandable…they are losing their independence!).

So, what is the family’s role? Ideally it is to help the caregivers be successful. The family has to want this to happen and needs to work towards this objective. No caregiver in the world can be successful if the family does not to want them to be.

Why do we say this? Because there are simply too many variables at play. No care environment is perfect. The caregiver is there because someone needs help. That alone makes it imperfect. The caregiver cannot read minds…or know every preference of a client (or their family). So, there will always be things that can be picked apart…especially during a transition. We hear things like “they do not fold the laundry the right way,” or “she does not want to clean the baseboards or iron my sheets!” Or “she is not the PERFECT fit.”

The caregiver is there, first and foremost, to keep the client safe and help the client with their activities of daily living. Preparing meals, helping with the house when time permits, running errands and driving a client to appointments are also part of the caregiver’s job for many clients. If the family they are working with does not want them to succeed they won’t. What that means in a nutshell is having realistic expectations of what care is required and understanding priorities. It may not be perfect right away, but it can be hugely successful and mutually beneficial over time if everyone works as a team.

I speak a lot on senior issues to groups. Making Home Care successful is just one topic. If you or your group want to learn more. Feel free to reach out through our website and I will gladly see if I can help.

Adam

Jul 12 2021

Caring for Others vs. Caring for Family

A one of the owners of Caring Companions of Atlanta, I have amassed a wealth of experience finding and integrating care into client’s homes. While it can be intimidating, following a specific process, usually yields a positive outcome (see this link to see out process named Anatomy of Great Care below)

Presently, however, I find myself in relatively unchartered territory. In August, my 90-year-old father is slated to be in town for a couple weeks while my stepmom orchestrates a move of sorts in Chicago. The townhouse they have in Chicago was devastated but a plumbing leak last year and, due to COVID and a variety of other things, the renovation has been lengthy. However, the time is finally coming to move back in. Fortunately, they have a small hobby farm only 90 minutes from Chicago and set up shop there while all the work took place.

Thirteen years ago, I did help orchestrate care for my mom while she battled Leukemia. However, it was a little different because my cousin was more on the ground than I was. My cousin lived in the same city while I was bouncing back and forth between my home in Atlanta and Arizona.

My dad had heart surgery in May and has been slower than expected to bounce back than anyone would have hoped. He is, indeed, better, but what was not accounted for when the surgery was planned were his past two years of health issues. He had a nasty car accident and a myriad of complications following that. All said, he had 24-months of atrophy and being largely sedate. As a result, much of his strength evaporated.

So, while the valve replacement surgery was nothing short of a miracle and he is improving, it has been as a snail’s pace.

We are excited to have him be here to say the least. He is a one of those people that is so easy to have around. He has his own agendas and coexists so efficiently. It is almost as if he is not even there aside from meals and chats. However, his care needs have increased significantly, and I find myself feeling somewhat intimidated to be a family caregiver during his visit. This is complicated by the common tendency for elders not to want to burden. He does not want to admit his needs…and as such it is hard to know what to do and when.

I wanted to acknowledge this for all the family caregivers out there. Care for a loved one, while a pursuit of passion and love, has its own challenges. Sure, our team orchestrates care for many people with a variety of conditions. However, when the care resides closer to home, a new set of emotional and physical challenges emerge.

I know we will love his company when he is here and miss him dramatically when he leaves. In the meantime, I admittedly feel some apprehension of what lies ahead.

Adam

Jun 03 2021

What’s Better than a 5-Star Client Review?!

How about a 5-Star caregiver review?

Last week, we started a new caregiver with one of our long-time clients. Like every time before we followed our process which is pretty intuitive to us. It sets everyone…the client, caregiver and us up for success. We did the following:

Alignment: We used our knowledge of the client and our care plan and recruited for a caregiver we believed would be a great fit for that specific situation. Personality fit, knowledge of the conditions the client is living with, etc.
The offer: Once we found a good match, Suzanne, our Office Manager shared the care plan with the candidate to see if she felt the same…that she would be a fit. She agreed and we offered her the job
Care plan formal review and training: At that point, Gail, our Geriatric RN, reached out to the caregiver and thoroughly took her through the care plan and everything she should be aware of entering the care environment (client preferences, things to watch out for, etc.)
Introduction: Next, we introduced the caregiver. To do that, Cjay, our Caregiver Supervisor set up a time with the client to stop by and make the introduction. When the caregiver arrived, Cjay was waiting for her in front of the client’s residence. Cjay asked if she had any questions to make sure she was good and the two proceeded to go knock on the client’s door
Shadowing: Because Cjay is very familiar with the case (as she is every client case) she stayed with the caregiver for a couple hours to make sure things went well

To us this was business as usual. As we always do, we called both the client and caregiver after the first shift to see how things went.

After learning all went well, we were surprised to get a call back from our new caregiver. She said she had to call and tell us she could not believe we went to such great lengths to set her up to succeed.

She went on to say that she NEVER had anyone go over the care plan twice….much less the Office Manager and a Geriatric RN. She continued by saying that she was blown away when Cjay met her outside. She’d never actually been introduced! Normally, she said, she was simply sent to a house she’d never been to all by herself to meet a client. She continued by saying having Cjay introduce her to the client and subsequently stay to make sure things went well enabled her to feel none of the awkwardness that is common when starting a new job.

She gave us 5-STARS!

OK…to be honest, we know not all home care companies do what we do. That being said, we certainly never tire of hearing from a caregiver (or client) about how happy they are having us on their team. It all traces back to our goals. Quality and continuity of care leading to positive outcomes for the families we serve, the caregivers on our team and the management team at Caring Companions.

Adam

Aug 14 2018

The Reality VS. the Expectation of Getting a (great) Caregiver: The Care Giving Conundrum

This is the first in a series of posts that will define the reality of care giving vs the expectations most families have as they enter the care giving journey. We will also offer tips on how to make that journey successful.

Part One: The Great Care Giving Conundrum.

OK, seems simple enough. Mom or dad finally drops his or her resistance and decides to try a caregiver. All I have to do is call a home care company and tell them to have a caregiver here tomorrow. Well, yes and no. If all you want is a warm body and it does not matter if it is the same body day-to-day, you can likely find a company that can deliver.

The truth is, finding a great caregiver is a process and not a light switch you just flip on.

Understand the Great Care Giving Conundrum.

The conundrum is a simple, yet very unbalanced equation. People in need of assistance usually wait as long as they can before getting it…and, when they do, they want as little help as possible. On the other side of the equation, most caregivers want to work as many hours as they can.

It makes sense…for the person in need, it represents them starting to lose their independence. It also means dipping into the ever-cherished bank account. I don’t know about you, but neither of those appeals to me very much! Often times, their ask is driven more by family hounding them to get help rather than their perceived need. So, they ask for a little help. Keeps it easy to stomach and affordable.

Back to the caregivers…as a whole, caregivers are largely underpaid (not because home care companies don’t want to pay them well, but the market sets the price). Plus, they have families to take care of. They don’t just want lots of hours, they NEED lots of hours to pay the rent and put food on the table.

The Request.

So, when the inevitable request comes in from a family for two four-hour shifts a week, we normally have to politely explain that the odds of us finding a great caregiver that wants that kind of work is very slim. They (the family) are not at fault for asking…how would they know!? Seems like a reasonable request. The truth is, however, even if we could find a caregiver that agreed to work mini-shifts like that, the likelihood of them sticking around and being reliable is very low. It’s not that they are bad people…they just will leave when an assignment with more hours comes up. Food on the table.

So, they key learning here is as follows:

Be aware of the conundrum when you engineer you request to a home care company. Almost all of us got in this business because we love to help people. But we cannot help if we are not set up to succeed
Know that should short, infrequent shifts be the “ask,” you might have trouble finding a home care company that will accept your business. If one does , the body they deliver will likely be different shift-to-shift

Next up…the fallacy that no one can care for mom or dad as well as you can.

Happy reading!

Adam

Sep 13 2016

Sandy Springs Car Show and Festival with Insignia!

Hi everyone:

As many of you know, Caring Companions of Atlanta LOVES helping partners with their events and are in the midst of doing just that with Insignia Senior Living. This coming Saturday, September 17th, we are part of a car show and Alzheimer’s fundraiser with them. The event will take place at the First Baptist Church of Sandy Springs at 650 Mount Vernon Highway NE. The event goes from 10 AM to 2 PM and will feature not only the cars but also, a dunking booth (any volunteers?!), food, a bouncy house, face painting, mini train rides and other fun stuff. But the biggest news is….drum roll…my little, old motorcycle with be proudly shown as well!

I bought “Blue” (a 1981 Honda CM 400C) about 35 years ago and she remains my faithful companion. We have logged some 13,000 miles together and she’s lived in 3 states. She took me back and forth from Chicago to Madison, Wisconsin while I attended college. I vividly recall my first ride on Blue..I picked up the bike at RPM Honda in the Roger Park neighborhood of Chicago. I paid about $1,100 all-in and rode off the lot. I was so nervous, my legs stuck straight out as though I was taking flight. I remember the guy yelling “DON’T TRY TO STOP IT WITH YOUR FEET! USE THE BRAKES!” I was scared stiff but made it home.

Since I got Blue, I have had a bunch of other bikes. But they just come and go. Blue will never be sold.

Please do come to the event this coming Saturday…we will have a ton of fun and you can have a brush with greatness by meeting Blue. Plus you will get to see Jennifer Franks and Chelsea Taylor from Insignia of Sandy Springs. They create endless fun and entertainment for their residents and I am happy to be included from time-to-time!

Adam